Now in the light of yesterday's post about the reality of God's eternal judgment it might be worth asking how a Christian should feel about the death of Hitch, as he was known. Does God delight in the death of those the reject him?
God's word and Christ's life argues against this. In Ezekiel 18:23 God asks this rhetorical question: "Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?". In 2 Peter 3:9 we read: "The Lord is... patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." Furthermore, the Bible describes everyone, including you and me as wicked and sinful in Romans 3:9-18 but Christ still came to seek and save the lost.
It is thus not the eternal judgment of God that should shock us but man's willfull rejection of the grace that God extends to them. In Hitchens case we know he had access to this message of grace through his believing brother Peter Hitchens, but denied a lifetime of opportunities to humble himself before God and accept him as King and Saviour.
We should realise that the same pride and arrogance that Hitchens displayed is alive and well in all of us. If it were not for the grace of God that showed (and still shows) us our sin and then continues to show us Jesus' sacrificial death in our place we would have carried on in our pride and arrogance.
Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, we mourn the fact that we are able to reject you and pray for our friends and family that willfully pushes your astonishing grace aside. Please breakthrough their hard hearts showing them the love you proved to them on the cross. Please to the same for us - reminding us that we did not save ourselves, but that you saved us in spite of ourselves. We humble ourselves before you and thank and praise you for your grace you've shown us. Amen
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